The present invention relates to methods of repairing base materials, and more particularly to methods of repairing damaged base materials having holes disposed therethrough.
It is possible to repair worn, corroded, or otherwise damaged holes in metallic base materials. However, known repair techniques cause excessive removal of parent material. For instance, in order to repair a crack that has formed at a perimeter of a rivet hole in a flange made of AA6061 aluminum (Al), the hole is remachined to a larger diameter to remove the crack. In other words, a circular hole would be remachined co-axially with the centerline axis of the existing (and damaged) rivet or bolt hole and to a diameter larger than the desired (i.e., blueprint) rivet hole diameter. A bushing is then press-fit or adhesively bonded to the flange inside the remachined hole to produce a repaired hole at the desired blueprint specifications, for parameters such as size and shape. However, this type of repair is not a structural repair, and the load-carrying capabilities of the repaired structure are less than ideal. Also, because of the parent flange material removal, there is a finite number of times the repair can be performed. Hole walls may also be repaired by various fusion welding processes, however, the processes often lead to unacceptable weld defects. Therefore, there is a need for improved methods of repairing damaged holes in metallic parent materials.